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Heating technology with minimum environmental impact used in the Berlin cement plant

The Spenner cement plant in Berlin relies on innovative technology with minimum environmental impact to generate process heat. Hotmobil, the specialist for mobile power units, designed, planned and manufactured with the approval of the Spenner cement plant Berlin a natural gas-powered heating container that is almost CO2-neutral during operation. 

Planning tailored to suit a market need
Eberhard Plaum, the Hotmobil manager responsible for units for sale, received the request from the Spenner cement plant in Berlin in January 2019. In the first step, Dirk Peschke, Technical Purchasing Manager and the project manager responsible at the Spenner cement plant in Berlin, defined the requirements and local conditions together with Hotmobil. The heating unit needed to be planned and built to the latest technical standards. The purchaser placed great significance on the use of a fuel with minimum environmental impact, in this case, natural gas. The supply lines needed for this were already present on the premises. The heating unit was to be used to heat the water needed for production of concrete to a temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius. "Our in-house development and planning department then prepared a concept for a mobile heating container tailored precisely to the customers needs.“, reports Plaum. 

Latest technology and highest quality standards
The newly planned heating container will be replacing an aging system. A 20-foot steel container holds the natural gas-powered, 350 kilowatt heat generating system, two buffer tanks with a volume of 1000 liters each, the pump groups for the three heating circuits, the safety and control equipment as well as a ventilation unit to provide hot air for the gravel bunker. Introducing air into the gravel bunker, the metering units and the weighing belts is intended to keep the gravel from freezing because of moisture and low temperatures. The ventilation unit provides a flow rate of 7000 cubic meters per hour. The heating unit generates approximately 3000 liters of hot water per hour at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.
The walls, ceiling and doors of the container are insulated with 40 mm of mineral wool to protect the heating unit against freezing and prevent heat losses. The mobile heating container is operated, controlled and monitored by means of a control unit located in a nearby control room.

Extensive customer service
The heating container was built to high safety and quality standards using high-quality components from well-known manufacturers in Gottmadingen, the headquarters of Hotmobil in southern Germany, by the company's own technical personnel. Delivery, setup and commissioning of the container were handled by the service technicians from the Hotmobil branch in Leipzig, one of the nine Hotmobil locations in Germany. 

Satisfied customers
From the start of the project, which began in January 2019 with the first planning and consultation, only ten months of intense cooperation and discussion elapsed until commissioning took place in November 2019. All participants had satisfied expressions at the official handover and commissioning of the heating container at the Spenner cement plant in Berlin. "We are very satisfied with our cooperation with Hotmobil; we were supported reliably by Mr. Plaum and Mr. Herrmann, the assigned project manager, over the entire course of the project", stated Dirk Peschke regarding the project. Thanks to the technology employed, it is possible to operate the heating unit in an almost CO2-neutral manner. The project participants are especially pleased regarding this contribution to protecting the environment.

A pioneer in the sector
Hotmobil Deutschland GmbH is a medium-sized company in the business of providing mobile heating, chilling and steam. The core competence of Hotmobil lies in the planning, production, renting and sale of mobile energy units. The company, which was founded in 1994, developed the idea of "a heating system on wheels" as a pioneer in the industry.